Maple Leafs to target key UFA's

The Toronto Sun is reporting that the Leafs are set to enter he bidding wars for key free agents tomorrow now that the salary cap is at the 50 million dollar mark.

It is highly speculated that the Leafs will try their darndest to sign Ryan Smyth to a contract. The Leafs will not be the only team trying to sign Ryan Smyth however the Toronto Sun speculates that if the big name free agents are signed that the Leafs will target other free agents such as Paul Kariya, Robert Lang or Todd Bertuzzi. HTR believes that Bertuzzi would be a good fit for the Leafs if he comes prepared to play hockey for an entire year. If may be difficult for him in Toronto because he would be the star of the show and Bertuzzi is not very media friendly.

not only that but i believe why should we waste all of our cap room on just one big name guy that might not pan out so well for the leafs. Why not go and sign Nagy a highly undereated winger, and jason blake who will be in the bidding wars but wont come as expensive as bertuzzi or ryan smyth

leafs should forget about BRIERE,DRURY,GOMEZ,SYMTH who all will be overpaid at 7 mill. +++,, they should just go after J. BLAKE at 4.5 mill per for 5yrs and BURTUZZI at 2.5 mill per for 3yrs plus bonous's based on performance,, i would rather have those 2 players instead of only 1 of the top 4 players out there,, does any1 agree with me???

The Leafs and JFJ really do need to make a splash but I don't know if they should do it this year. They are apparently looking for the "next one" to replace Mats Sundin when he retires. Is that number one available this year? Yes probably in a couple of cases one for sure in Drury, but next year correct me if I'm wrong Joe Thornton hits the open market. A big stud franchise player who is Canadian and hails from Ontario, this to me factors into why Mats signed for one year and management has no problem with this deal either. Who would you rather have at 7 mil. Thornton or Drury? My money would go to Thornton. This year I would try to add a few pieces to compliment what we already have, such as a Kariya who will come in at around 4 or 4.5 then maybe Todd White who will command somewhere around 3 mil. , you add two great players for the price of one bigger name player and with Toskala between the pipes dramatically increase your chances of making the playoffs. Next summer Mats 5 mil. is off the books allowing us to make a real run at Thornton and if we do sign him that makes us a contender, which means you still might be able to sign Mats for a healthy home team discount for a chance to win in Toronto.

what i would love to see is a de-emphasis on making a 'splash' in the UFA pool and an emphasis on making, smart, shrewd, and CREATIVE moves.

what i would love to go down in the next week or so:

1) Leafs trade Kubina and Ian White to Edmonton for Lupul and a 2nd rounder. (White is the sweetner in this deal and, besides Souray, Rafalski, Schneider, there is not many two-way blueliners left out there in the free agent market for the Oilers to take. if i were the leafs, i would even push for a 2008 first rounder instead of a 2nd rounder).

2) Leafs sign either Smyth or Kariya (two totally different kinds of players, both effective in their own way, both can remain in Toronto for years to come long after Mats is gone).

3) Leafs sign Scott Hannan (this would be an amazing signing for the Leafs and make them tougher to play against).

4) waive Wade Belak (for obvious reasons).

By the time training camp rolls around, the Leafs would audition for a spot on the blueline for the likes of Woz, Kronvall, and Pilar, among others.

This team above is a team that I can see competing for the top-4 in the East. Fewer pucks in the net thanks to the likes of Hannan and Toskala, more pucks in the net (especially in shootouts) thanks to the likes of Lupul and Kariya/Smyth (Bell essentially is a younger, slightly more expensive replacement for O'Neill, both of whom had issues to deal with).

As for the future, JFJ is simply going to have to be more shrewd in terms of trading away current talent for picks/prospects and for picking up other young players/prospects from other teams.

Bonuses were a good idea before the cap was instituted in order to pay for performance. Under the cap, however, bonuses have to be budgeted in to the cap anyway so you may as well actually spend the money.

i also agree with the 3yrs for BLAKE but i said 5yrs because i just based it on the HARTNELL deal i know he sined for 6yrs,, its just these average or above average guys r signing for 5 or 6 yrs,, so if BLAKE can score us 30 goals for the next 5yrs at 4.5 mill that would be a deal and a half a few yrs from now the way these salaries r going now

HAHA kubina's contract is the biggest joke in the NHL, kevin lowe wouldent move on 100,000 dollers on ryan smyth what makes you think he would ever eat kubinas 5 millon. I think the leafs are stuck with that one HAhahahaahah